Partners · Blog
Paths, tiers and what co-sell means when it is written down.
Version one of the CEDX partner program is intentionally narrow: consulting, resellers, system integrators, and distributors. ISV and Marketplace motions attach through review rather than a vague everyone-is-a-partner umbrella that dilutes enablement, confuses customers, and fills the directory with firms that never deliver.
Tiers unlock enablement and margin, not vanity badges. Deal registration is real; spam registrations get cleaned. Co-sell means pipeline reviews and SE time on qualified multi-product deals. It does not mean CEDX invents demand for a cold logo drop with no product footprint and no operator sponsor.
Consulting partners deliver implementation and managed services. Resellers sell with deal registration and demo tenants. System integrators own multi-product architecture and identity. Distributors enable regional resellers and local coverage with train-the-trainer packs and forums that keep enablement local.
Apply at /partner-program/apply/. The directory at /partner-program/find/ is for customers who need delivery help. Channel software for managing your own partners, the PRM product, lives at /partners/. Those are different URLs on purpose so search, product, and program teams do not collide in the sitemap or in sales conversations.
Progression from Registered to Advanced to Premier is evidence-based: delivery proof, certified practitioners, portal hygiene, and for Premier a joint business plan. Annual review can step benefits down; remediation comes before removal. Material benefit changes are announced with a window so finance is not surprised mid-quarter.
Enablement matches the live build. Product pages embed running software. Partner kits track that build. Academy is public for basics; labs after approval go deeper. Webinars and partner events refuse deck-only theatre when the motion can be shown in the app. That is the same honesty we sell to customers.
If you are a firm evaluating whether to join, read the path pages, the tiers matrix, and one customer scenario in your industry. Then apply with a clear motion and region truth. Adjective-heavy capability claims without practitioners who live in the product will not clear review, and that is intentional.
Customers should use the directory with a useful intro request: industry, products, timeline, constraints, and whether they need implementation only or sell-plus-implement. We shortlist two to three partners. You choose. If no partner fits, we say so and discuss CEDX-led or hybrid options where available instead of forcing a bad match.
Narrow paths are a feature. A program that accepts every firm as every path produces a directory customers cannot trust and enablement nobody can staff.
Written co-sell definitions protect both sides. Partners stop expecting demand generation magic; CEDX stops receiving cold logo lists dressed up as pipeline.
Tier benefits exist to fund quality: sandbox depth, SE time, workshops, margin. They are not loyalty points for registration volume without outcomes.
The PRM product at /partners/ helps companies run their own channels. It is not the CEDX partner program. Sales teams that confuse the two create broken customer journeys on the website.
If you want Premier, start collecting delivery evidence in month one. Retroactive storytelling before review is how firms stay Advanced longer than they planned.
Partners
If this essay points at a product, open the live app - not a parallel mockup universe.
Takeaways
Open three live apps on one user and follow one customer record.
Write three metrics and a retire list before config sprints.
Use path pages and tiers if you sell or implement the estate.
Paths, tiers and what co-sell means when it is written down.
